Eduard Samoilovich Kuznetsov (, ; 29 January 1939 – 22 December 2024) was a Soviet-Israeli

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 2 ...

refusenik Refusenik (, ; alternatively spelled refusnik) was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authorities of the Soviet Union and oth ...

, journalist, and writer. One of the leaders of the 1970 Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair, Kuznetsov's case drew international attention following his death sentence. As a result of global protests, his sentence was commuted to fifteen years' imprisonment. Kuznetsov was released in 1979 as part of a prisoner exchange between the Soviet Union and the United States. He subsequently made

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

to Israel. Throughout the 1980s, he participated in the operations of

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

before beginning the publication of the Russian-language ''Vesti'' in 1992. Kuznetsov is the author of three novels, two of which were written in prison and smuggled out of the country. Kuznetsov died in Israel on 22 December 2024, at the age of 85.

Jewish activism

Kuznetsov studied at the philosophy department of

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

. While at university, Kuznetsov became involved with the first unsanctioned

samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

(self-published) magazines. In 1958-61, he co-edited the underground literary journals '' Sintaksis'' and ''Boomerang'', and helped compile the samizdat poetry anthology '' Phoenix''. In 1961, Kuznetsov was arrested and tried for the first time for his involvement in publishing samizdat, and for making overtly political speeches in poetry readings at Mayakovsky Square in central Moscow. Among those also attending these informal gatherings were

Yuri Galanskov Yuri Timofeyevich Galanskov (; 19 June 1939 – 4 November 1972) was a Russian poet, historian, human rights activist and dissident. For his political activities, such as founding and editing samizdat almanac '' Phoenix'', he was incarcerated i ...

, Vladimir Osipov and

Vladimir Bukovsky Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky (; 30 December 1942 – 27 October 2019) was a Soviet and Russian Human rights activists, human rights activist and writer. From the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, he was a prominent figure in the Soviet dissid ...

. Kuznetsov was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. Following his release in 1968, Kuznetsov became one of the primary organisers of the 1970 Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair alongside Mark Dymshits. Arrested for "high treason," he was set to be executed, but after lodging an appeal and international protests, his sentence was transmuted to fifteen years in prison and labour camp. His case "opened the doors of emigration to thousands of Soviet Jews." In the 1970s, Kuznetsov shared a prison cell with

Danylo Shumuk Danylo Lavrentiyovych Shumuk (30 December 1914 – 21 May 2004) was a Ukrainian political activist who served a total of 42 years imprisoned by three different states, Second Polish Republic, Nazi Germany and Soviet Union. Living in the Second ...

for five years. In 1979, he and four other dissidents (Dymshits, Baptist preacher Georgi Vins, samizdat writer

Alexander Ginzburg Alexander "Alik" Ilyich Ginzburg ( rus, Алекса́ндр Ильи́ч Ги́нзбург, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ɨˈlʲjidʑ ˈɡʲinzbʊrk, a=Alyeksandr Il'yich Ginzburg.ru.vorb.oga; 21 November 1936 – 19 July 2002), was a Russian journalist ...

, and Ukrainian nationalist Valentyn Moroz) were exchanged for two Soviet spies arrested in the United States. Kuznetsov then immigrated to Israel.

Literary and other activities

From 1983 to 1990, he was chief of the news department of

Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

in Munich. In 1992 he co-founded the Israeli Russian-language newspaper, ''

Vesti Vesti may refer to: Media * Vesti (German newspaper), a Serbian-language newspaper in Germany * ''Vesti'' (Israeli newspaper), a Russian-language newspaper in Israel * Vesti (TV channel), the former name of the news channel Russia-24 * Vesti ...

'' (The News), which he edited until 1999. Kuznetsov was a member of the

PEN Club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internati ...

and has been widely published in European, US and Israeli media. He is the author of three novels: ''Prison Diary'' (1973), ''Mordovian Marathon'' (1979) (both written secretly in prison and smuggled abroad) and ''Russian Romance'' (1984). All three have been translated into many languages. In 1974, ''Prison Diary'' won the Gulliver Award in France, being declared the best book written by a foreign author. In 2005, Kuznetsov participated in "

They Chose Freedom ''They Chose Freedom'' () is a four-part TV documentary on the history of political dissent in the USSR from the 1950s to the 1990s. It was produced in 2005 by Vladimir Kara-Murza. The documentary tells the story of the Soviet dissident moveme ...

", a four-part television documentary on the history of the Soviet dissident movement. He lived in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, Israel and was a board member of the

Gratitude Fund The Gratitude Fund is a non-profit organization in New York which provide assistance to veterans of the active struggle for freedom and human rights in the former USSR such as ex-political prisoners, who were imprisoned for many years, and to the ...

, an organisation supplying financial aid to former Soviet dissidents.The Gratitude Fund
Retrieved 25 November 2015.

Notes

Bibliography

External links

at The Gratitude Fun *
"OPERATION WEDDING" A documentary film by Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov

Edward Kuznetsov biography
at "Gulag authors and their memoirs", Sakharov Centre (in Russian) *

*
Interview
at Sem40 *

at Belousenko library {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuznetsov, Eduard 1939 births 2024 deaths Moscow State University alumni Writers from Moscow Soviet anti-communists Soviet expellees Soviet emigrants to Israel Soviet prisoners sentenced to death Jewish anti-communists Naturalized citizens of Israel Israeli anti-communists Israeli people of Russian descent Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Israeli newspaper editors Russian anti-communists Russian Zionists People convicted of treason against the Soviet Union Prisoners sentenced to death by the Soviet Union